Re: [Evolution-hackers] Evolution Future Roadmap

[William Jon McCann <mccannwj pha jhu edu>]

Hi JP,

Here are some things that I would like to see (enough to help with):

General
=======

For GNOME integration work to continue, applications need better access 
to some of Evolution's widgets.  For the clock applet we need access to 
(w/o compile type dependency on Evolution):

  - ESource management
  - Event editor
  - Task editor
  - Access to specific day view

User Interface
==============

The combined UI is probably as good as it can get.  To make further 
improvements the UI for each Component needs to be designed separately.

   Sidebar
   -------

     The sidebar contains three elements.  Context information, 
sources, component buttons.

     In mail, most people have many sources.  The information widget 
and the component buttons restrict the number of sources that are 
visible.  In Calendar, it is possible that the user will have many web 
calendars.  In Contacts and Tasks I think it is unlikely that anyone 
will ever have more than a few sources.  It seems we have not enough 
space in the sidebar in mail, and far more than we need in some of the 
others.

     The component buttons are big, this is good.  It helps users find 
them and use them.  However, nice big icons on the desktop named: Mail, 
Calendars, Contacts, and Tasks are better!  It is very difficult for a 
novice user to find the Calendar application.  OS X sets a very good 
example here.  Now that Evolution (hopefully) will be part of GNOME 
Desktop there is no reason to rely on the Shell as the "backplane" 
between the components.  Use the GNOME Desktop itself for this purpose. 
 If it isn't easy for the user to switch between apps then we have a 
problem with the desktop design we need to fix.  However, I don't think 
we do.  It is very easy to click between three or four applications that 
are running in the Window List applet.

     The context information widget seems to exist only because 
Evolution is an application suite.  If the components were separate some 
of this information could be conveyed in a) the title bar b) somewhere 
on the status bar.

   Status Bar Area
   ---------------

     The offline/online toggle makes sense in Mail but is quite 
confusing in everything else.

     This area could be more effectively used by each component.

     For example:

     A very simple dropdown could switch between Contact sources (a la 
Nautilus' parent folders dropdown)

   Search Bar
   ----------

     Should be able to hide the search bar on a per component basis.

   Menus
   -----

     New menu should only display items relevant to the current component.

     "Send / Receive" is confusing for everything but Mail.

     Settings should only display options for the current component.

   Components
   ----------

     Mail:

       Nothing really to say here.  For most people, Evolution is an 
email program.

     Contacts:

       DnD of contacts to anywhere as vCard (desktop included).

     Calendar:

       Consolidate sidebars.  Move Tasks summary into the left sidebar.

       Reduce or remove the dependence on the toolbar.

       I think making it a bit more document centric might be 
interesting.  This could mean:

         - when a day is activated (double clicked) open it in a new 
window (unless it is already open - then present it).

         - when a time slot is activated in the day then open the 
EventEditor.

         - the day window defaults to show all the events of that day

         - events should only be renamed using the context menu or the 
EventEditor (ie. the name label should not be directly editable).

         - events should all be DnD items (can DnD events from one day 
to the next)


Jon